


Penance

by WeNNoKK



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Character Development, Empire of Storms Spoilers, Fantasy, Gods, Prophetic Visions, Serious, Time Skips, cannon expansion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 05:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13804569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeNNoKK/pseuds/WeNNoKK
Summary: This story is set as an aside for what Aelin and Maven see Elena experience while viewing her memories in the witch glass. Though in the book we see Elena be told that her line would need to pay for her arrogance, there was part of that experience that she shielded from Aelin and chose to bear alone - the knowledge of all that had been given and wasted so foolishly and the knowledge of all that had yet to be sacrificed.The first "chapter" is an excerpt from Empire of Storms to set the scene for the expanded story.





	1. Empire of Storms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sarah J Maas - For being an inspiration and brilliant author](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Sarah+J+Maas+-+For+being+an+inspiration+and+brilliant+author).



> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Throne of Glass, Empire of Storms, or any of the included characters. These are the property of Sarah J. Maas and Bloomsbury. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and please remember to leave feedback. I can't get better without your help!!! :)

“Fool,” said the one of many shifting voices, both animal and human. “Half-breed fool. Did you not consider why your father carried it, why he bided his time all these years, gathering his strength? He was to wield it—to seal the three Wyrdkeys back into the gate, and send us home before he shut the gate forever. Us, and the Dark King. The Lock was forged for us—promised to us. And you wasted it.”

Elena braced a hand on the earth to keep from swaying. “My father bears the Wyrdkeys?” He had never so much as hinted … And the Lock … she had thought it a mere weapon. A weapon he had refused to wield in this bloody war.

They did not answer, their silence confirmation enough.

A small, broken noise came out of her throat. Elena breathed, “I’m sorry.”

Their rage rattled her bones, threatened to stop her heart dead in her chest. The one of flame and light and ashes seemed to withhold, seemed to pause in her wrath.

To remember.

She had not seen or spoken to her mother since she had left her body to forge the Lock. Since Rhiannon Crochan had helped Mala cast her very essence into it, the mass of its power contained within the small witch mirror disguised as a blue stone, to be unleashed only once. They had never told Elena why. Never said it was anything more than a weapon that her father would one day desperately need to wield.

The cost: her mother’s mortal body, the life she had wanted for herself with Brannon and their children. It had been ten years since then. Ten years, her father had never stopped waiting for Mala to return, hoping he’d see her again. Just once.

I will not remember you, Mala had said to them all before she had given herself to the Lock’s forging. And yet there she was. Pausing. As if she remembered.

“Mother,” Elena whispered, a broken plea.

Mala Light-Bringer looked away from her.

The one who saw all with wise, calm eyes said, “Unleash him. So we have been betrayed by these earth beasts, let us return the favor. Unleash the Dark King from his coffin.”

“No,” Elena pleaded, rising from her knees. “Please—please. Tell me what I must do to atone, but please do not unleash him. I beg you.”

“He will rise again one day,” said the one of darkness and death. “He will awaken. You have wasted our Lock on a fool’s errand, when you could have solved all, had you only the patience and wits to understand.”

“Then let him awaken,” Elena begged, her voice breaking. “Let someone else inherit this war—someone better prepared.”

“Coward,” said the one with a voice of steel and shields and arrows. “Coward to shove the burden to another.”

“Please,” Elena said. “I will give you anything. Anything. But not that.”

As one, they looked to Gavin.

No—

But it was her mother who said, “We have waited this long to return home. We may wait a little longer. Watch over this … place a little longer.”

Not just gods, but beings of a higher, different existence. For whom time was fluid, and bodies were things to be shifted and molded. Who could exist in multiple places, spread themselves wide like nets being thrown. They were as mighty and vast and eternal as a human was to a mayfly.

They had not been born in this world. Perhaps had become trapped here after wandering through a Wyrdgate. And they had struck some bargain with her father, with Mala, to at last send them home, banishing Erawan with them. And she had ruined it.

The one with three faces said, “We will wait. But there must be a price. And a promise.”

“Name it,” Elena said. If they took Gavin, she’d follow. She was not the heir to her father’s throne. It did not matter if she walked out of this mountain pass. She wasn’t entirely certain she could bear to see him again, not after her arrogance and pride and self-righteousness. Brannon had begged her to listen, to wait. She had instead stolen the Lock from him and run with Gavin into the night, desperate to save these lands.

The one with three faces studied her. “Mala’s bloodline shall bleed again to forge the Lock anew. And you will lead them, a lamb to slaughter, to pay the price of this choice you made to waste its power here, for this petty battle. You will show this future scion how to forge a new Lock with Mala’s gifts, how to then use it to wield the keys and send us home. Our original bargain still holds: we will take the Dark King with us. Tear him apart in our own world, where he will be but dust and memory. When we are gone—you will show this scion how to seal the gate behind us, the Lock holding it intact eternally. By yielding every last drop of their life force. As your father was prepared to do when the time was right.”

hy your father carried it, why he bided his time all these years, gathering his strength? He was to wield it—to seal the three Wyrdkeys back into the gate, and send us home before he shut the gate forever. Us, and the Dark King. The Lock was forged for us—promised to us. And you wasted it.”

Elena braced a hand on the earth to keep from swaying. “My father bears the Wyrdkeys?” He had never so much as hinted … And the Lock … she had thought it a mere weapon. A weapon he had refused to wield in this bloody war.

They did not answer, their silence confirmation enough.

A small, broken noise came out of her throat. Elena breathed, “I’m sorry.”

Their rage rattled her bones, threatened to stop her heart dead in her chest. The one of flame and light and ashes seemed to withhold, seemed to pause in her wrath.

To remember.

She had not seen or spoken to her mother since she had left her body to forge the Lock. Since Rhiannon Crochan had helped Mala cast her very essence into it, the mass of its power contained within the small witch mirror disguised as a blue stone, to be unleashed only once. They had never told Elena why. Never said it was anything more than a weapon that her father would one day desperately need to wield.

The cost: her mother’s mortal body, the life she had wanted for herself with Brannon and their children. It had been ten years since then. Ten years, her father had never stopped waiting for Mala to return, hoping he’d see her again. Just once.

I will not remember you, Mala had said to them all before she had given herself to the Lock’s forging. And yet there she was. Pausing. As if she remembered.

“Mother,” Elena whispered, a broken plea.

Mala Light-Bringer looked away from her.

The one who saw all with wise, calm eyes said, “Unleash him. So we have been betrayed by these earth beasts, let us return the favor. Unleash the Dark King from his coffin.”

“No,” Elena pleaded, rising from her knees. “Please—please. Tell me what I must do to atone, but please do not unleash him. I beg you.”

“He will rise again one day,” said the one of darkness and death. “He will awaken. You have wasted our Lock on a fool’s errand, when you could have solved all, had you only the patience and wits to understand.”

“Then let him awaken,” Elena begged, her voice breaking. “Let someone else inherit this war—someone better prepared.”

“Coward,” said the one with a voice of steel and shields and arrows. “Coward to shove the burden to another.”

“Please,” Elena said. “I will give you anything. Anything. But not that.”

As one, they looked to Gavin.

No—

But it was her mother who said, “We have waited this long to return home. We may wait a little longer. Watch over this … place a little longer.”

Not just gods, but beings of a higher, different existence. For whom time was fluid, and bodies were things to be shifted and molded. Who could exist in multiple places, spread themselves wide like nets being thrown. They were as mighty and vast and eternal as a human was to a mayfly.

They had not been born in this world. Perhaps had become trapped here after wandering through a Wyrdgate. And they had struck some bargain with her father, with Mala, to at last send them home, banishing Erawan with them. And she had ruined it.

The one with three faces said, “We will wait. But there must be a price. And a promise.”

“Name it,” Elena said. If they took Gavin, she’d follow. She was not the heir to her father’s throne. It did not matter if she walked out of this mountain pass. She wasn’t entirely certain she could bear to see him again, not after her arrogance and pride and self-righteousness. Brannon had begged her to listen, to wait. She had instead stolen the Lock from him and run with Gavin into the night, desperate to save these lands.

The one with three faces studied her. “Mala’s bloodline shall bleed again to forge the Lock anew. And you will lead them, a lamb to slaughter, to pay the price of this choice you made to waste its power here, for this petty battle. You will show this future scion how to forge a new Lock with Mala’s gifts, how to then use it to wield the keys and send us home. Our original bargain still holds: we will take the Dark King with us. Tear him apart in our own world, where he will be but dust and memory. When we are gone—you will show this scion how to seal the gate behind us, the Lock holding it intact eternally. By yielding every last drop of their life force. As your father was prepared to do when the time was right.”

“Please,” Elena breathed.


	2. The Sacrifice of Mala

“Though this price is to now be paid by another, we will show you what is to come from your actions.”

Elena’s face paled, “No, please let this end here. You have already said the price is to be paid by my blood.”

“Fool!” Mala turned to face her once again; the trace of recognition she had just glimpsed in her mother's eyes was now gone.

Blinding light began to emanate from the god that had once been her mother and Elena knew this was a price that she herself would have to pay and could not be deferred to someone she would never know.  

“You will know exactly what you have done and the future that you have stolen in your arrogance!”

As the brightness surrounding her died at last, she found herself almost comforted by the familiar sight of her parents chambers in Terrasen. Shouts were emanating from the sitting room as she began to move forward.

“Brannon, we can not win this war as we are! You know it to be true!”

She reached the cracked door and was halted at the sight of her mother. As Mala had said, she was being shown the price that had been paid.

“I will not lose you! Not after all that it has taken for us to be together! Erawan will not take you from me!”

Mala’s hard eyes soften as moved forward into Brannon’s arms, “He already has. They have seen this come to pass. This is the only way for you and our children to live on in a world where light can still shine to all of the dark places. I will not be able to return to you in this way, but I will always be with you.” She looked up to his eyes and Elena saw her father's grim resignation to the fate laid before them.

“You are and always have been the light of my life. A world without you in it is no world that I ever wish to be in. For our children though,” he paused, his voice cracking with emotion, “I will help you do this.”

Elena had never seen her father cry, had never seen a single crack in his resolve, but as the scene before her began to fade out a single tear escaped the side of his eye as he embraced the light bringer.

“I am with you until the end.”  

 

The brightness consumed her once again and then as before faded back to reveal and new scene. Rhiannon Crochan stood before her working on a delicate piece of glass. Reciting incantations and praying over the metal it began to glow with a soft blue hue. Ever so slowly pieces of metal began to wrap themselves around the glass and instead of opaque the glass turned reflective. A door flung open and her parents entered the witch queen's presence.

“Ah Mala you’re just in time.” She moved around the table and the two embraced. Leaning back after a moment Rhiannon looked deep into Mala’s eyes, “Are you sure this is the only way?”

Deep sadness washed over the fire bringers face as she answered, “It is.”

“Then may the maiden, mother, and crone of the Three Faced Goddess watch over you and your line.” Looking now to Brannon her eyes softened, “Say your farewells, we don’t have much time.”

Brannon nodded and the witch queen went to see to the final preparations.

Mala turned to her beloved, her face hard and soft all at once. “Brannon, you need to listen to me. I know that we have spoken many times about what you must do, but there are many that will not understand. The wyrdkeys will call to him, they must be kept secret. Bide your time, you will have one chance and one chance only. It must be perfect. I know you to be capable of patience, do not lose sight of what needs to be done.”

Brannon nodded his head and leaned into what Elena knew would be their last embrace. “I feel so cheated,” he breathed into her hair, “There are so many things in this life that I wanted for us.”

Mala smiled up at him and wiped at the tear forming in the corner of his eye, “You have burned brighter than any mortal ever has before and it is what brought us together. There is much more that I wanted for us as well, but you have given me more than I had ever hoped to have. You have brought light to the light bringer and you must not forget that. You will bring light back to this world. After I give up this form I may no longer be the same, but I will always be with you Brannon. Until the very end.”

The tears finally broke free and for the first time in her life, Elena saw something in her father break.  
“Until the very end,” he whispered after her as she stepped from his embrace and strode towards Rhiannon who had been giving them time to finish their goodbyes.

“The world will not forget this sacrifice Mala light bringer.”

Mala returned the witches words with a tight smile and nodded her head slightly, “I hope not. I hope it will serve as a reminder and a warning to those who would once again seek the power of the wyrd. I am ready.”

Nodding her head Rhiannon began the enchantment, a blinding light not unlike the one that brought her to this vision began to emanate from the body of her mother, spidering in cracks of fiery light across her skin. Closing her eyes she gave her mortal form over into the power and as her form faded from few the witch queen trapped the light in the mirror. As the light dimmed away the amulet continued to glow.

“You know what you must do with this Brannon Galathynius. As Mala said, there will be those that do not understand why you do not act, but you must not fail. Her power is truly awesome, but can only be expended from the mirror once.”

Bannon nodded as he received the amulet, the glow dimming as it settled into place around his neck.

“She was not wrong, she will be with you until the end. As will we all. Mala knows full well all that she has given to bring the Eye of the Goddess into this world - a lock to the gate that has been opened. She chose to entrust the fullness of her power to you so that this world can once again know the peace and happiness that she has felt with you all these years." She smiled kindly at him as he placed a hand on the amulet, "You must go now, there is much work to be done. The forces of Erawan grow stronger with each passing day and we must all be ready at all costs.”

 

With this new knowledge it was Elena who now felt something within herself begin to break. A sudden realization dawned on her. She knew what came next when the brightness overcame her…


	3. Elena's Folly

An all too familiar voice caressed her ears. How disgustingly young she sounded. There she stood in the halls of Terrasen where she had awaited her parents return. She remembered being confused when he returned alone. She knew this day.

“Father where is mother?” Confusion and worry contorted her features.

Not able to meet her eyes he shook his head.

“No."

 

She faltered and grasped at the wall so as not to fall. 

 

"No no no no,” her younger self shook her head not willing to believe what her father was telling her. Why had they insisted going alone? She had tried to warn them that it would be too dangerous, but they had insisted there was a weapon that only they could retrieve. They should have taken more guards, Errawan's forces were everywhere now. This attack was inevitable. 

“You did this!” she screamed at him, pain strangling voice. “You were warned that it would be dangerous to go alone and now she’s paid the price for your arrogance!”

Brannon’s eyes hardened at his daughter's pain and accusation. “You know nothing of the price that she has paid, nothing of what she has done for us. For all of us!”

Elena collapsed to her knees as the grief overcame her. She glared at her father with tears in her eyes, and then noticed the blue glow of the amulet around his neck.

“So that’s it then, the _weapon_ that was worth my mother’s life?” She spat at him, venom in her tone.

“It is not a weapon Elena, it is a tool. I know it is hard to understand, but it will win us this war.” He dropped to his knees and embraced his daughter, cringing as she flinched at his touch. “It will give us the power to seal Erawan away and I promise to you that your mother did not die in vain.”

Elena shook her head, could they really still win if they lost everything in the process?

“Then let us use it. This weapon. Let us march on Erawan and end this before it consumes everything else that is good in this forsaken world.”

“It’s not that simple. I know you don’t understand now, but one day you will.”

Brannon sat there holding her for a moment as the scene began to fade into white. The last thing Elena was left with was her own eyes staring back at her with determination. Determination not to lose anymore people she loved.

 _No more_.

 

_... But there were so many more… There will be so many more… Gods, what have I done?_

  


This time when the brightness faded she was once again set in a familiar place. A memory of her own. The chambers were dark, but she had been in them so many times before she did not need much light to maneuver her way to the table on which her father’s armor was currently laid out.

_Old fool. He would see us lose this war because he is too afraid to use what has been given to him._

Elena remembered those thoughts, and cursed herself for them now. If only her father had told her. If only she had asked.

She saw herself take the amulet from his armor, the Eye of the Goddess he had called it. To lock Erawan away with the wyrd. Her people would not suffer any longer. With the amulet and Gavin at her side she would rid the land of Erawan’s taint. They would make their stand with the armies of Terrasen and Ardarlan at their backs.  

 

A ripple cast through the area before her and she no longer beheld herself but her father. The room was now lit and he was listening to a lieutenant's report as he stared at the spot where the Eye should have been. He knew who had taken it, but by the time he had discovered her betrayal it had been too late. Even with all that Mala had given to him, he was powerless to change what was about to happen. Powerless to stop the damnation of the world. As the lieutenant finished reporting on the positions of the armies of both Erawan and Gavin he bowed and dismissed himself. Brannon sunk his head into his hands and prayed to Mala for forgiveness. Prayed that though her sacrifice may be wasted that there might be another way.

 

Brightness once again began to envelope her and she no longer doubted the gods wrath. No longer wondered why they had been cruel.

 

_I am a fool._

 

_I am glad you see that now daughter, but we are not done yet. You have yet to see the future that you have stolen away._

 

_Have I not seen enough? How can I bare to lead them to the suffering that I have felt if I am to know them?_

 

_This is your penance Elena. The cost of your foolishness. I will show you the life you have snuffed out. The life that is to come._

 

As the blinding white once again faded back Elena took in her surroundings. There was no mistaking the rolling hills of Terrasen, but this was not the terrasen that she knew. This Terrasen did not know the war that was currently waging in her time. This was a land of peace. This is how it should be.

_I don’t understand_

Just then a little girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes came running by. An unmistakable child of both the Galathynius and Ashryver lines. “Come on Adeion, give it back!”

Looking up at the tree the child was now standing in front of she could see a similar looking child sitting on one of the lower branches.

“Aww come on Aelin, I just wanted to look at it. Thought you didn’t like jewelry anyway?”

The boy stuck his tongue out at the girl and Elena could see the anger rise in her eyes.

“I said. Give. It. Back!” Flames erupted all around the girl and as though she hadn’t done it on purpose she flinched back away from them. Tears sprung up in her eyes as she stepped away and the boy, Adeion, came down from the tree.

“Hey,” he said in a soft tone approaching the girl, “I’m sorry I just wanted to look.”

Elena saw as he handed the necklace back that the girl had been chasing him for the Amulet of Orynth.

_This girl. The amulet. The flames. She would be the price. This poor child who has never seen war. This is what I have brought upon her. This is the horrible legacy that I leave her. What I have done?_

 

As she watched the children make up and then go back to playing she felt the presence of her mother join her.

 

_Do you understand now? This was not the future that they were supposed to have. She would have shone brighter as Queen than even myself. Fireheart they call her. A true heir of Brannon and beloved of Mala Fire Bringer. And you have taken everything that should have been hers._

 

_I am so sorry. Please say this can be undone._

 

_You can not undo what has passed. You must come to terms with what you have done and when the time is right help her understand why she must pay the price that was to have been Bannon’s._

 

Elena felt the pieces inside of her that had been cracking with each revealed truth finally collapse. The events of the last ten years and those still yet to come sat on her with the weight of eternity. Just as she thought that she might fall apart, the world faded back to what it had been and she was once again looking at the very reason she had betrayed her family. Betrayed the world. Gavin. Saving his life was what had mattered most. She would fix this. She would make him understand and they would find a way to save the fire Princess of Terrasen. At the very least, she would find a way to ensure she would not repeat Elena's own mistakes. 


	4. Empire of Storms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is where Empire of Storms picks back up with the main story line. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.

The three-faced one said, “Tell Brannon of the Wildfire what occurred here; tell him the price his bloodline shall one day pay. Tell him to ready for it.”   
  
She let the words, the damnation, sink in. “I will,” she whispered.   
  
But they were gone. There was only a lingering warmth, as if a beam of sunlight had brushed her cheek.   
  
Gavin lifted his head. “What have you done?” he asked again. “What have you given them?”   
  
“Did you not—not hear it?”   
  
“Only you,” he rasped, his face so horribly pale. “No others.”   
  
She stared at the sarcophagus before them, its black stone rooted to the earth of the pass. Immovable. They would have to build something around it, to hide it, protect it.   
  
Elena said, “The price will be paid—later.”   
  
“Tell me.” His swollen, split lips could barely form the words.   
  
Since she had already damned herself, damned her bloodline, she figured there was nothing left to lose in lying. Not this one time, this last time. “Erawan will awaken again—one day. When the time comes, I will help those who must fight him.”


End file.
